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“Steep terrain, dry fuels, and inaccessible areas continue to be a factor in fire spread.”

Forrest Gordon Clark, 51, who owns a cabin in Holy Jim Canyon, was arrested earlier this week after a standoff with police and charged with arson, making criminal threats and resisting arrest.

A spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney's Office said Clark had previously made threats against a neighbour, but declined to elaborate.

Volunteer Fire Chief Mike Milligan told the Orange County Register that Clark has long feuded with other cabin owners in the canyon and last week sent him an email warning: "This place will burn."

Oh my god. Oh my god, please lord

Local resident

More than 21,000 people have been evacuated in and around the city of Lake Elsinore, where flames and billowing smoke rose into the sky at the edge of the city of 60,000 near the Santa Ana Mountains.

Three firefighters suffered minor injuries battling the flames, which have charred more than 18,000 acres (7,280 hectares). Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for the area.

The Holy Fire was one of several blazes burning across California that have displaced tens of thousands. Smoke from the western wildfires has reached the East Coast and beyond, the National Weather Service has said.

About 5.4 million acres (2.2 million hectares) have been blackened in more than a dozen states during this year's extremely active wildfire season, according to the National Interagency Fire Centre.